 Modern manufacturing today
is demanding higher speeds and feeds, greater accuracy and faster tool
changes than ever before to remain competitive and profitable. Producers all
over the world have looked at various ways of achieving these goals. One
attractive solution is HSK, a revolutionary tooling system developed in
Europe and spreading quickly here in U.S. It offers users the fastest
possible material removal rates, highest accuracy, and rigidity.
HSK - is an abbreviation of the new standard Tooling Interface,
which was developed in Germany and describes tooling shanks
DIN69893
(DIN
69893) and
spindle receivers
DIN69063 (DIN 69063).
These standards were introduced as non-proprietary solutions. They became
extremely popular in Europe and North America, particularly for high-speed
applications. In fact, the HSK spindle is considered a default
parameter in machine tool specifications of the major automotive, aviation,
and airspace companies.
It is important to note that the HSK working group did not adopt a specific
product design, but rather a set of standards that defined HSK toolholders
for different applications. Developers considered design alternatives, they
had a very specific set of performance criteria in mind. Totally there were
created six separate standards for HSK Shanks and six standards for matching
Spindle Receivers.
Without exaggeration, we can proclaim that the debut of HSK technology in
metal cutting industry is equivalent to the appearance of the microchip in
electronics. It stimulates progressive evaluation of the conservative
cutting tool industry. It forces everyone to revise production environment,
rethink manufacturing methods, and requires cruise again through an exited
learning curve to achieve success.
Currently there are more then 50,000 spindles, equipped with the HSK
interface, operating worldwide. The industrial employment of HSK tools was
initiated in Europe during
 the
early 90’s. However end users, especially companies, which recently joined
(or were planning to do so) to the "HSK Club", experienced some difficulties
in the application of this new technology. A lack of sufficient information
and partial misunderstanding in proper utilization of HSK tooling still
remains. |
